ADM announces appointments in Asia-Pacific

DECATUR, ILLINOIS, U.S. — Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) announced on June 11 several appointments in the Asia-Pacific region as part of its actions to align its investments and organization to better serve demand in the area.

ADM said it will centralize coordination of its activities throughout Asia-Pacific by moving its regional headquarters from Shanghai to Singapore, which is the hub of the company’s regional merchandising operations. Ismael Roig, president, ADM Asia-Pacific, will have offices in both Singapore and Shanghai.

ADM will hire a new president of ADM China. The position will report to Roig, be based in Shanghai, and focus on growing ADM’s sweetener portfolio and feed business in China.

Collin Benson has been named president, ADM Australia and New Zealand. He replaces Bill Fitzgibbon, who is retiring as operations director of ADM’s Sydney office after 16 years of service growing ADM’s food and feed ingredients business. Benson will be based in Sydney and will continue to oversee ADM’s business in Japan and Korea. He brings 19 years of experience in grain merchandising and in food- and feed-ingredient sales. For the last six years, he served as president of ADM Japan. He will work to grow ADM’s operations in Australia and New Zealand. Benson will lead the integration of the Adelaide-based Toepfer business—among Australia’s top five agricultural commodity exporters—with ADM’s Sydney-based food and feed ingredients business. Benson will report to Roig.

As part of an effort to strengthen ADM’s ports, merchandising and logistics across the region, Nigel Hart will join ADM as director, Asia-Pacific Ports and Storage Development. Hart brings 15 years of experience in corporate development and grain logistics, storage and merchandising, most recently with GrainCorp Limited. Based in Sydney, he will support the growth of ADM’s port, logistics and storage capabilities throughout Asia-Pacific. Hart will report to Roig.

Tim Henry, general manager, Toepfer Australia, will lead ADM’s Australian grain merchandising operations as they become part of ADM’s global Agricultural Services business. Henry has led the Australian Toepfer business since 2011, having joined Toepfer in Singapore in 2008. He has more than 15 years’ experience in grain merchandising.

To support growth across the company’s various businesses, ADM has appointed Kristina Hermanson director, business development for Southeast Asia. Hermanson has been with ADM since 2007 and brings to the role more than 10 years of commercial, business-development, project-management and integration experience. Hermanson will report to Roig.

“As populations and incomes across Asia continue to rise, diets are evolving. With that shift comes an increase in demand for crops and other products from agriculture. For decades, ADM has connected the world’s harvest with the Asian market,” said ADM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Patricia Woertz. “Now, we’re taking a series of actions to enhance our ability to efficiently serve that growing demand.

“As we previously announced, we’re investing to grow our food and feed production with the addition of two production facilities in China. We’re also making enhancements to our ports and logistics coordination throughout the Asia-Pacific region, and we’re adding and aligning talent to support growth. Together, these actions will strengthen our ability to serve our customers in the region and improve coordination between our operations within Asia and around the globe.”

Last month, ADM announced that the company is building a sweetener and soluble-fiber manufacturing complex at the port of Tianjin in North China to help meet growing demand in China and Asia for high-quality food ingredients that can serve a wide variety of needs. The sweetener facility is expected to be fully operational in early 2015, with the soluble fiber facility operational in the second half of 2015.

ADM announced last fall that the company is constructing a facility in Nanjing to produce animal feed premix that can be added to animal rations to promote good health and optimal growth. Such premix formulas typically contain vitamins and minerals, amino acids such as lysine and threonine, and other ingredients. The facility is scheduled to begin operations in mid-2015 and will complement ADM’s existing feed premix plants in Dalian and Tianjin.

Through its acquisition of the remaining stake in Toepfer, ADM will strengthen its merchandising operations in Asia-Pacific. The combined ADM and Toepfer team in the region merchandises more than $14 billion in commodities annually.

As part of the companywide effort to grow sales of higher-value products, ADM is adding specialty ingredients sales offices in Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Korea and Vietnam. The company already has specialty ingredients sales teams in Singapore, Australia, Japan and China.

ADM is one of the top exporters of agricultural commodities to Asia-Pacific and markets an extensive range of food ingredients and animal feeds and feed premixes through its network of sales offices located throughout the region. ADM also holds a 16.8% stake in Asian agribusiness Wilmar International Limited and a 19.85% stake in Australian agribusiness GrainCorp Limited.

Since its entrance into the Chinese market in 1994, ADM has grown to become a significant supplier of China’s rising demand for corn, oilseeds and food and feed ingredients. Today, ADM employs more than 300 people in China.

In 1995, ADM began operating an animal-feed premix plant in Dalian. It has since added another feed-premix plant in Tianjin and is constructing a third in Nanjing. In 2005, ADM opened a commercial office in Shanghai to serve the Chinese market for specialty food ingredients such as lecithin, xanthan gum, acidulants, vitamin E and cocoa products. ADM is currently building a sweetener and soluble-fiber manufacturing complex at the port of Tianjin. The complex is ADM’s first wholly owned food-ingredient production facility in China.

In Australia, ADM serves the markets for specialty-food and -feed ingredients as well as industrial products. ADM is a leading provider of amino acids for feed applications and of cocoa and lecithin for food products. ADM’s Toepfer business markets wheat, barley and canola across Australia. The company is among Australia’s top five domestic grain merchandisers and among the top five agricultural commodity exporters.